1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the field of communications. More specifically, the invention relates to security of communication information.
2. Prior Art
According to the Direct Marketing Association (DMA), in 2001 telemarketing accounted for $660 billion in sales. Consumer advocates estimate that more than 24 million calls are made daily by telemarketers (some households receive as many as 21 calls a week). In spite of their popularity with businesses, the telephone calls, which often interrupt people in their homes at inopportune times, are near the top of many consumers' lists of complaints.
In response to these complaints, twenty-seven state governments (Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Maine, Minnesota, Missouri, New York, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Wisconsin, and Wyoming) have passed legislation creating so-called “do-not-call” lists. The lists, which have been extremely popular among consumers, allow citizens of a state to register their phone number as off-limits to telemarketing calls. Marketers who do not respect the lists face substantial liability. According to the DMA, being on the list can reduce the number of telemarketing calls a consumer receives by as much as 80%.
Because of their success, most of the remaining states are considering similar legislation. In addition, current Federal law requires telemarketers to maintain an internal do-not-call list for customers who ask to not receive phone calls, and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently proposed creating a national do-not-call list.
In response to the need to limit liability faced by telemarketers who violate the various state- and Federally-mandated do-not-call lists, several technologies have been invented to manage the out-going calls and ensure compliance with the law. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,330,317, to Garfinkel, entitled “Call Blocking System,” describes a system that automatically blocks outgoing calls to consumers who appear on either a company's internal or legally-mandated external do-not-call lists. The system interacts with a company's telephone system and automatically stops calls to phone numbers in a do-not-call database before they are dialed.
In addition, U.S. Pat. No. 6,130,937, to Fotta, entitled “System and Process for Automatic Storage, Enforcement and Override of Consumer Do-Not-Call Requests,” describes a system and process for a company to manage do-not-call lists. The system described allows companies to efficiently store, update, and, when appropriate, override a do-not-call list. The list contains the telephone numbers of individuals who have expressed a desire not to be contacted. The system integrates both the company's internal do-not-call lists as well as any external lists, such as those mandated by various state laws.
The various solutions to creating and managing do-not-call lists currently go a long way toward solving the problem of unwanted telemarketing calls, but do not translate well to other communications media. The current embodiment of all do-not-call list technology inherently reveals the telephone numbers on the lists. At the present time, this is not a problem for do-not-call lists because 1) telephone numbers are already widely published in directories such as the white pages, and 2) making a telephone call is currently fairly expensive. A telemarketer must pay bandwidth fees to a telephone company, lease a telephone line, install equipment, and staff a call center in order to conduct business. In addition, inherent to the medium, only one telephone call can be made per phone line at any given time, necessarily limiting the number of phone calls that can be made by a telemarketer in any period. Joining a do-not-call list therefore does not risk subjecting a phone number to more phone calls from “rogue” telemarketers.
However, looking beyond phone calls and telemarketers, the current systems and technology for creating and managing do-not-call lists will not suffice for emerging, less-expensive, more-efficient communications media.